I've no more time for the Wannamaker quote - it's enough to say that the marketing industry now know's when marketing-works!
This blog will highlight the best detective work which shows when marketing works and when it doesn’t.
Please e-mail me with comments as well as articles which you would like posting.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Words that need to be banned from marketing research - Optimisation

Optimisation - I hate the word optimisation (or optimization depending on which side of the pond you are on) because it implies some degree of certainty in outcome. When dealing in statistics, it's a brave person who puts their neck on the line and says they know for certain the outcome of an event.

In marketing analytics, many people talk about "optimising" the mix, optimising price points, optimising mailing lists. In reality, they mean "probably improving" but it's not such a sexy term is it.

I've used the term myself and will continue to do so on occasion (because I'm weak no doubt) but we must be able to find another way to explain that there is little certainty in analytics.

Mu suggestion - "Improvement" or "Best Suggestion" both sound a bit wet. Anybody got any ideas on terms I can use?